Great Figures at Notre Dame

In 1844, two years after founding Notre Dame, Rev. Edward Sorin wrote: “When this school, Our Lady’s school, grows a bit more, I shall raise her aloft so that, without asking, all men shall know why we have succeeded here. To that lovely Lady, raised high on a dome, a Golden Dome, men may look and find the answer.”

Through the intercession of Our Lady, Notre Dame would eventually boast many extraordinary teachers, men and women who would carry on the great Catholic tradition of education. Notre Dame’s history is full of such figures: great Catholic intellectuals who have—in the words of one such faculty member, Frank O’Malley—helped the university continue in its mission to “redeem the time.” In the midst of a “deliriously secular culture,” Notre Dame remains a place true to its foundations, a place where it is not unrealistic to dream of making the Truth visible to the world.

The success that Father Sorin prayed for at the founding of the university has been secured through the efforts of Notre Dame’s many outstanding professors. Enjoy the profiles below of a few of these great men and women.